Saturday, August 08, 2009

From her Facebook page: ( I added my own thoughts re: death panel below)

"As more Americans delve into the disturbing details of the nationalized health care plan that the current administration is rushing through Congress, our collective jaw is dropping, and we’re saying not just no, but hell no!

The Democrats promise that a government health care system will reduce the cost of health care, but as the economist Thomas Sowell has pointed out, government health care will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost. And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.

Health care by definition involves life and death decisions. Human rights and human dignity must be at the center of any health care discussion.

Rep. Michele Bachmann highlighted the Orwellian thinking of the president’s health care advisor, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, the brother of the White House chief of staff, in a floor speech to the House of Representatives. I commend her for being a voice for the most precious members of our society, our children and our seniors.

We must step up and engage in this most crucial debate. Nationalizing our health care system is a point of no return for government interference in the lives of its citizens. If we go down this path, there will be no turning back. Ronald Reagan once wrote, “Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth.” Let’s stop and think and make our voices heard before it’s too late."

- Sarah Palin

Many say that "death panel" is a gross exaggeration. But I was reading Charles Lane in the WaPo, who at first saw that sort of talk as rubbish, and wondered why Democratic strategists were hesitant to refute these kind of claims because it might agitate already worried seniors.

What he found was that maybe seniors did have a right to be worried. If you try to read through the gobbly gook in the bill regarding end of life care, there are disturbing things. Saying it's a "death panel" is not too strong of a way to describe it. Considering that these end of life counseling sessions are addressed in the measure to "bend the curve" on health care costs, makes it clear that costs will confront the decisions on what kind of care you receive.

As Lane explain , the left may claim that these end of life counseling sessions are voluntary and a patient may refuse them, but as stated in the measure ,the Doctor is paid to initiate these sessions. What patient is going to interrupt a Doctor explaining end of life care for them? How would a patient even know that was what the discussion was, until after it underway? And I must say it does bother me that Doctors will be PAID specifically for having these end of life discussions. In other words, it won't be about you asking these questions. It will be about a Doctor being paid to bring them up.

Then, most disturbing of all, the government controls the "content" of these discussions between Doctor and patient.The doctor is instructed to discuss "advanced care planning, including key questions and considerations, important steps, and suggested people to talk to"; "an explanation of . . . living wills and durable powers of attorney, and their uses" and "a list of national and State-specific resources to assist consumers and their families." The doctor is THEN instructed to explain that Medicare pays for hospice care. As Lane says..."hint, hint."

In other words they want doctors to explain how expensive your care will be, and well, you are old, and do you really what to go through all this expense? After all Medicare picks up the bill for a nice relaxing stay in hospice while you die.

Death panals indeed.

Lane ends with this:

Ideally, the delicate decisions about how to manage life's end would be made in a setting that is neutral in both appearance and fact. Yes, it's good to have a doctor's perspective. But Section 1233 goes beyond facilitating doctor input to preferring it. Indeed, the measure would have an interested party -- the government -- recruit doctors to sell the elderly on living wills, hospice care and their associated providers, professions and organizations. You don't have to be a right-wing wacko to question that approach.

I got this from HotAir.(the embed may not be working. Click on the Hotair link to watch the video.) It perfectly illustrations a couple of the myths about what is going on in these debates. The first myth: People that are complaining don't live in the Congressman's district. I haven't seen any proof of that. So this Doctor, who DOES in live in the district, gets up to ask a question about healthcare. Afterwards the Congressman accuses "some" in the crowd of "hi-jacking" this forum because they don't live in the district and it wasn't a healthcare forum. But the Doctor asked the question when they gave the audience an opportunity to ask the Congressman anything on their minds. Only two were related to healthcare. 2nd myth: Congressmen are willing to meet with you and discuss this. This Congressman says that the people here didn't have "decency" to call his office to set up a meeting. But the Doctor says that he had called the Congressman many times and was told there would be no forums on healthcare. This forum was the only opportunity the Doctor had to ask his question. Myth three: All people at these forums are Republicans. This Doctor wasn't Republicans and I've seen many of the videos that are not.

I was asked in the comments if I thought that the people on both sides now that show up at these healthcare forums are the fringe elements of both our parties. I do not believe that at all. It's clear from the videos that these are mostly middle age and elderly people very upset about this healtcare bill. Not fringe in the least. I would bet this might be first time they have been at meetings like this. And unless the left considers union members fringe, I don't think the left had their fringe there either.

Friday, August 07, 2009

I'm bumping my updates from below so everyone can be sure and read them.

The Union is sending out it's minions to the townhalls now. In a memo sent out on Thursday, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney urged supporters to attend townhalls to counter rightwing "tea party patriots". Also, Organizing for America, a project of the Democratic National Committee, also sent out a similiar missive.

They certainly have a right to do this, and we should welcome any and all debate. But so far the most we have seen is some yelling. But since the Democrat supporters have gotten involved it's gone further than that.

At two healthcare town halls last night, one in Tampa and the other in St. Louis, violence broke out. There were six arrests at the one in St. Louis. Among those allegedly arrested were SEIU members. One black conservative was reportedly beaten up by a union thug and had to be taken to the hospital.

Passions ran high in St. Louis because Congressman Carnahan (D) locked out 1000 tea party people and then snuck in SEIU members through a door marked handicapped. You can't keep people out of the townhalls just because they disagree with you. You can't just let in people that agree with you. You work for ALL the people. When people see that they are being treated unfairly, things turn ugly, and it did.

Expect more stories like this. When passions run high, these kinds of things happen and it's too bad. I've been at many protests where people argued loudly and passionately, but violence is never acceptable. Never.

But people are scared. Really scared. Let's hope it doesn't get worse.

Thursday, August 06, 2009

Karl Rove has an excellent article in the Wall Street Journal about why things seem to have gone oh so wrong for Obama on health care:

We see this on health-care reform, which the president’s pollsters told him—six months into the debate—he must instead call “health insurance reform,” a phrase he repeated five times in his prime-time news conference and at least 20 times in five days of appearances since.

The problem is many Americans remember Mr. Obama started his health-care push by focusing on covering the uninsured and reducing costs, not knocking insurance companies upside the head.

Public support for his plans shrank when Americans saw the trillion-dollar-plus price tag, recoiled from the intrusive expansion of government into patient-doctor decisions, and came to understand the plan was financed in part by huge cuts in Medicare and large tax increases.

So, after running into heavy opposition among Congressional Democrats and growing public hostility to his plan, Mr. Obama has now recast the debate as an attack on insurance companies, with the president serving as savager-in-chief. This would be more credible if he hadn’t surrounded himself with insurance CEOs and lobbyists when he kicked off his effort in March.

Many of you might remember when I posted about the name change from "health care reform" to "health insurance reform," but I had totally forgotten that Obama had insurance CEO's and lobbyists standing by him as he began this push for health care reform.

I bet those guys are feeling pretty stupid about now.

I also hadn't realized that Obama's plan included large cuts in Medicare. Well, no wonder all these seniors are showing up at all these townhalls. It makes even more sense now. Elderly people understand that when it comes to the rationed care we will be getting with Obamacare, they will be the first to be denied aggressive care. Better to give them "a pain pill," as Obama has said.

Karl also notes how Geithner and Summers refused to rule out middle-class tax increases on the Sunday talk shows, and Gibbs had to do some backtracking:

This dispute pits the economic team against the campaign team. The economic team awakens each day worried about reconciling two irreconcilable realities: The administration’s budget calls for huge, sustained new government spending, which threatens giant budget deficits. Being liberals, the economic team is inclined to raise taxes, not cut spending.

What the economic team realizes is what the rest of Obama's team refuse to admit. They must raise taxes on the middle class to pay for everything. But since Obama promised God and the American people that wouldn't happen, they find themselves between a liberal rock and a hard place.

But as Rove points out, Obama has already broken his pledge not to raise taxes on the middle and lower class:

On Feb. 4, Mr. Obama signed a $33 billion cigarette tax increase, which fell disproportionately on lower- and middle-income individuals. And the “cap and trade” energy bill, approved by the House on June 26, is a tax on anyone who owns a light switch, uses a car key, or has bought anything manufactured, shipped or sold in the U.S.

And of course the health care bill will be paid by the same middle class he promised he wouldn't raise taxes on:

The House version of Mr. Obama’s health-care—excuse me, “health-insurance”—reform already has four taxes that will largely be paid by people making less than $250,000 a year. There’s $8.2 billion in taxes for using health savings accounts and other tax-free medical savings vehicles to purchase over-the-counter drugs. There’s an 8% tax on employers who don’t offer insurance: The Congressional Budget Office says workers in those businesses would pay the $163 billion cost via lost wages.

Many Americans took Obama at his word when he said he wouldn't raise taxes on them. They were sold a bill of goods. Democrats ALWAYS raise taxes. It is what they do.

Obama was elected by campaigning as a moderate. But he is not a moderate and he never was a moderate. He fooled us. It's that simple. And all those people who believed him because he was so charismatic, so cool, so handsome, now understand that those things don't lead a country. They now understand that he is far left and that is not where they want this country to go.

If these dissenting voices were just Republicans, there wouldn't be a problem. Because we are completely out of power now. But it isn't just Republicans and they know it. That is why they are trying to paint it as if it were.

Update III: The Union is sending out it's minions to the townhalls now. In a memo sent out on Thursday, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney urged supporters to attend townhalls to counter rightwing "tea party patriots". Organizing for America, a project of the Democratic National Committee, also sent out a similiar missive.

They certainly have a right to do this, and we should welcome any and all debate. But so far the most we have seen is some yelling. But since the Democrat supporters have gotten involved it's gone further than that.

At two healthcare town halls last night, one in Tampa and the other in St. Louis, violence broke out. There were six arrests at the one in St. Louis. Among those allegedly arrested were SEIU members. One black conservative was reportedly beaten up by a union thug and had to be taken to the hospital.

Passions ran high in St. Louis because Congressman Carnahan (D) locked out 1000 tea party people and then snuck in SEIU members through a door marked handicapped. You can't keep people out of the townhalls just because they disagree with you. You can't just let in people that agree with you. You work for ALL the people. When people see that they are being treated unfairly, things turn ugly, and it did.

Expect more stories like this. When passions run high, these kinds of things happen and it's too bad. I've been at many protests where people argued loudly and passionately, but violence is never acceptable. Never.

But people are scared. Really scared. Let's hope it doesn't get worse.

What makes the following polling so amazing is that it comes from democracycorps.com, the James Carville polling firm. They always seem to have good news for Democrats, but not this time. This came out 2 days ago and the left, who usually spreads his polls like wildfire, didn't so so with this one. You can see why:

By 53%-42%, those who are likely to vote in the 2010 election say Barack Obama is 'too liberal.'

They believe by a margin of 53%-40% that he will 'raise my taxes.'

By 55%-42% they say 'he promises things that sound good' but that won't get done.

By a whopping 65%-32%, likely voters call Obama a 'big spender.'

The news for 'Democrats' more generally is no better.

On the economy, likely voters give 'the Democrats' just a 6 point edge (45%-39%) over 'the Republicans.'

Likely voters give the Republicans an 11 point edge (49%-38%) on taxes.

The Republicans have a 13 point lead (47%-34%) on government spending.

Republicans have a 5 point edge (42%-37%) on the budget deficit.

Furthermore, by a margin of 54%-34%, likely voters believe Obama is not keeping his promise to 'save or create 3 million jobs.' And by 51%-43%, likely voters are more worried that the government will 'spend too much,' rather than 'fail to take strong action on important priorities.'

You have to love this. The AARP has a meeting to hear concern of it's members about the healthcare bill. Just look at the disrespect. The AARP spokesman just leaves and then comes back to take the microphone. Didn't matter. These people are our greatest generation and they didn't let that stop their meeting. You tell me if these people sound like a "mob."

These are our parents and our grandparents. We should LISTEN to them, not insult them.

There were no lobbyist-funded buses in the parking lot of Mardela Middle and High School on Tuesday evening, and the hundreds of Eastern Maryland residents who packed the school's auditorium loudly refuted the notion that their anger over the Democrats' health care reform plans is "manufactured."

"I went to school in this school," a man named Bob told me. "I don't see anyone in this room that isn't from Mardela Springs right now."

"We've been quiet too long," said a woman named Joan.

You will have to give kudos to freshman Democratic Rep. Frank Kratovil. At least he listened.

I'm telling you, the more the Democrats throw out this "mob" and "manufactured outrage" talking point, the more they will lose. I promise you that that room was not full of just Republicans. I've begun to believe that if Democrats push this on us, they will find themselves out of power in 2010. But I'm not willing to sacrifice our health care system for that to happen.

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Many of you have sent me or commented with the the talking point from Think Progress and MSNBC showing the "right wing memo" directing people to go to these townhall meetings with their Congressmen and "shout" and "rattle him" and so on. The DNC even used the memo in it's recent ad saying it was by " high-level Republican political operatives.”

Just one problem. It's a complete lie.

The man who wrote the memo is Mr. Bob MacGuffie, who is a Connecticut libertarian who has never voted Democrat or Republican on a federal level. He not only doesn't work for any Republican organization, he isn't really a volunteer. He had one blog posting on a tea party website.

He has a facebook page called "Right Principles" with 23 members and a Twitter account with five followers.

Wow, that's some high level Republican operative there.

He originally e-mailed his "right wing memo to 8-10 Connecticut activists.

So this lone guy sends out this memo and a few people get angry at townhalls, and now it is the the talking point of the left to call us "mobs." We are "shouting" and not allowing intelligent debate. Even Democratic Congressmen are quoting the so called "right wing memo." It's sad how pathetic the left can be when you fight their agenda.

I can see Think Progress lying and distorting all this, because that is what they do over there, but how ridiculous is it that not only did MSNBC pick up on the story, but the DNC uses it in an ad! There is a point where at least some truth should matter.

Prepare yourself for more of this. The Democrats want this healthcare bill bad. Not for the American people, but so it can be an victory for Obama. They will stop at nothing to do this. The American people have had it though. We are done sitting by and watching this administration run this country into the ground. It will get ugly I'm sure. And in the end it may not even matter what the American people want.

Naturally those who are against govt run healthcare don't appreciate being called "a mob" by Democrats. Yesterday on twitter the tag #iamthemob got going. I thought you might enjoy some of the tweets. Mine are the last two:

RWSparkle: I have been PTA President, mom reader, substitute teacher, writer, and team mom. #iamthemob

Update II: Trying to keep up with the insults and absurdity from the Democrats. Did you catch the video where Sen. Boxer ("Don't call me M'AM") dismissing the legitimacy of the protesters because we dress too well? Too funny. She is such a snob. How do you Democrats stand her?

But that is nothing compared to the Democrat leader of the house, Nancy Pelosi saying the following:

Pelosi: I think they're Astroturf ... you be the judge. They're carrying swastikas and other symbols like that into townhall meetings on health care.

You know they have reached the bottom of barrel when they bring out the Hitler analogies. Does Pelosi really think this tactic will work? Accusing American citizens, who dare to protest, of being Nazis?

Update III: Redstate has a great townhall calender! Click on the links in the calender and you can see where your Congressmen/women are having townhalls. Hope this isn't too "organized" for the Democrats!

I've had this dilemma regarding the "Cash for Clunkers" program. My 16 yr old drives a clunker that probably isn't worth $1000. It was passed down from my oldest son. I figured if the usual mishaps and fender benders happen, then it wouldn't be so bad. But knowing that I could get $4,500 for it toward a new car is very tempting.

On the other hand, do I want to contribute to a ridiculous program that is nothing but a government give a way? But my friends tell me it's my taxpayer money paying for it, so I might as well take advantage of it.

When the government first conceived of this program it required that Americans buy American made cars, but the adminstration wasn't up on fair trade laws, and someone informed them they couldn't do that, so they had to drop that part.

Guess what happened? Four of the five top-selling cars in this program are made by foreign automakers. The top selling American car is the Ford Focus. Not surprising since a recent poll showed 46% of Americans said they are more likely to buy a car from Ford because it was the only car company that didn't take bail out money.

Then there is the writer at NRO who said he wanted a big truck. So what he is thinking of doing is turning in his clunker, getting the $4,500 discount and buy a new small car, drive it for a few months until the cash for clunkers thing is over, and then sell his almost new car for what he bought it for, and then buy his truck.

It's called 'getting around the system.'

Anyway, I'm leaning towards not doing it. It doesn't feel right and if he had a new car and wrecked it or had a fender bender, having a new car would make it worse. And there is the additional insurance.

I'm always amazed at what takes off in the world of politics and protest. This poster has been popping up all over the net and all over Los Angeles. You can even buy one online if you wish.

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The left seems to want to analyze it as "racist" because they think it reminds them of "black face." That is absurd to me. It's clearly the Joker, and even Bush was portrayed as the Joker in Vanity Fair. It has nothing to do with race. The Joker is one of the greatest movie villains of all time. He was a demented clown prince who had his own demonic vision of the world. That is the message here, and that that was the message in Vanity Fair.

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The reason this particular picture is catching on is that it is just creepy enough. It's not horrific, but it makes us uncomfortable. Socialism should make us uncomfortable. It is creepy. I don't like things that are disrespectful to our President, no matter which President it is. But I also think there should be a easy clear visual way to send a message to Americans that these policies are in line with socialism. I used to think it was wrong to use the word socialism in association with Obama. But now that it's clear that he intends to govern in a socialistic fashion, then there is nothing wrong with pointing that out, and if this poster can relay that message easily, then more power to it.

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We are a free country. We can make fun of our leaders. That's democracy. Bush understood this and handled his critics with grace and dignity. We shall see if Obama can do the same.

Given the debate over the legitimacy of protests against the Democratic agenda on health care, cap-and-trade, and the economy generally, I thought it might be instructive to look at how the last administration addressed protests against its policies.

White House officials meet with Cindy Sheehan and other anti-war protesters:

About 70 anti-war protesters shouted "bring the troops home" from Iraq near President Bush's ranch on Saturday, prompting two White House officials to come out to meet with mothers who lost children in combat in Iraq.

National Security Adviser Steven Hadley and Deputy White House chief of staff Joe Hagin listened to the concerns of Cindy Sheehan and five or six other mothers in a meeting that lasted about 45 minutes, White House spokesman Trent Duffy said. Duffy said Sheehan told the two officials she appreciated the meeting.

White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer on Anti-war protesters:

"I think the president welcomes the fact that we are a democracy and people in the United States, unlike Iraq, are free to protest and to make their case known,"

White House Press Secretary Trent Duffy on anti-war protests:

"The American people have a right to protest, and the right of free speech is something that we're fighting for in this war on terror, to preserve that right of free speech. So the President welcomes opinions from all Americans."

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan on Iraq protests:

"The President talked about some of this the other day in remarks at the Pentagon. He recognizes that there are differences of opinion on Iraq and our role in the broader Middle East. Some people want us to withdraw from Iraq and withdraw from the Middle East. They are well-intentioned."

Interesting. How does that compare with the Obama White House?

The Democratic National Committee addresses health care protests:

"The Republicans and their allied groups – desperate after losing two consecutive elections and every major policy fight on Capitol Hill – are inciting angry mobs of a small number of rabid right wing extremists funded by K Street Lobbyists to disrupt thoughtful discussions about the future of health care in America taking place in Congressional Districts across the country.

However, much like we saw at the McCain-Palin rallies last year where crowds were baited with cries of 'socialist,' 'communist,' and where the birthers movement was born – these mobs of extremists are not interested in having a thoughtful discussion about the issues – but like some Republican leaders have said – they are interested in ‘breaking’ the President and destroying his Presidency.

These mobs are bussed in by well funded, highly organized groups run by Republican operatives and funded by the special interests who are desperately trying to stop the agenda for change the President was elected to bring to Washington. Despite the headline grabbing nature of these angry mobs and their disruptions of events, they are not reflective of where the American people are on the issues – or the hundreds of thousands of thoughtful discussions taking place around kitchen tables, water coolers and in homes.

The right wing extremists’ use of things like devil horns on pictures of our elected officials, hanging members of Congress in effigy, breathlessly questioning the President's citizenship and the use of Nazi SS symbols and the like just shows how outside of the mainstream the Republican Party and their allies are. This type of anger and discord did not serve Republicans well in 2008 – and it is bound to backfire again."

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on health care protests:

"I hope people will take a jaundiced eye to what is clearly the Astroturf nature of grass-roots lobbying," said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs during a morning off-camera session in his office with reporters.

"This is manufactured anger," he said.

Well, you can say one thing for the Obama administration: they have brought genuine change to the way the White House addresses dissent.

That's right. While the Bush administration treated protestors with respect and understood the right to protest, this administration chooses to denigrate and spread lies about who the protestors are and why they protest.

I wonder if the DNC were so concerned when their protestors were hanging Bush in effigy or showing pics of Bush as a Nazi or Satan? I wonder if they were appalled when a Code Pink protestor ran up to Condi Rice with "blood" on her hands in a congressional hearing? Were they concerned about who was funding Cindy Sheehan's travels? Did we on the right ever try to paint the left with the same brush as the 9-11 truther's movement as the DNC is trying to do with "birthers?"

It's fine for the White House and DNC to disagree with all of us fighting these government boondoggles. But smearing and insulting everyday ordinary Americans protesting is what will backfire on them.

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Chicago politics has long been know for it's bullying and threatening tactics. We on the right all knew that Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel would bring Chicago style intimidation to the White House, but who knew it would be so BLATANT.

House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Ranking Member Darrell Issa (R-CA) sent a letter to Emanuel saying this wasn't going to work in Washington. He provided these examples and they are mind boggling.

Last month, Politico reported that Emanuel had “launched a coordinated effort to jam” Senator Kyl and other Administration critics…" by intimidating members of Congress and Governors who raise legitimate concerns regarding the effectiveness of the stimulus. After Sen. Kyl's Sunday talk show appearances, the following letters were sent out the next day. Obviously Emanuel instructed Cabinet Secretaries to threaten and intimidate Governor Brewer of Arizona. Does that sound a bit overdramatic? You decide:

Letter from Ray LaHood, Secretary of Transportation:

"On Sunday, Arizona Senator Jon Kyl publicly questioned whether the stimulus is working and stated that he wants to cancel projects that aren’t presently underway. I believe the stimulus has been very effective in creating job opportunities throughout the country. However, if you prefer to forfeit the money we are making available to your state, as Senator Kyl suggests, please let me know [emphasis added]."

Letter from Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior:

"Some key Republican leaders in Congress have publicly questioned whether the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is working and suggested cancelling all projects that are not currently in progress. I believe they are wrong. The stimulus funds provided through the Recovery Act are a very effective way to create job opportunities throughout the Country. However, if you prefer to forfeit the money we are making available to Arizona, please let me know [emphasis added]."

Update: Now, on the White House website, they are asking Americans to "tattle" on each other. That's right. They asking people to send in names of those who are spreading rumors about healthcare, even in "casual conversations." I know. It seems surreal. But it's true.

There are more and more youtube videos coming out of Congressman going home to healthcaretownhalls and being met with...umm...resistance. It's very gratifying to see. Tea Party Patriots has a a list so far of the townhalls coming up. Check it out to see if there is one near you and keep checking for updates.

I want to add something about the video I have posted below of Obama in '07 and '03 clearly stating that he would like to see a single payer system in healthcare, and how the private employer insurance would take a while, but would eventually be eliminated.

Update II: This is a must read by Thomas Sowell and says what I am trying to say here, but much more eloquently. "Ultimately, our choice is to give up Utopian quests or give up our freedom."

This morning on Fox News they played a video of the White House communications person in charge of addressing "dis-information," former ABC News Correspondent Linda Douglass. She she pointed to a link online that links the video I have below of Obama speaking on healthcare. She says that regarding pushing out private employer insurance and a single payer system, "nothing could be farther from the truth." She says people online cobble together video that mis-represents what was really said.

Ok, I can understand that. That happens all the time to people like Rush and Glenn Beck. So I'm watching this waiting for her to explain how that video "mis-represents" what Obama really said then. But guess what? That was it! That was her explanation. That it simply "wasn't true." She never explains why Obama said that, or how it was taken out of context.

Oh, I see. Just you saying it wasn't true, makes it so. I was at least thinking she would say that Obama believed that then, but not now. At least that would make sense. But she didn't even say that. Good grief.

It's wonderful that people are coming out to these townhalls. Everyone needs to do that. We are a LONG way from winning this fight. The Democrats have the power and the votes. They don't want a failure on this. They could easily dismiss the people's concern. Which made me realize how far we have come from the liberty this country was founded upon.

The difference between tyranny and democracy is simply this; the people's voice matters.

In tyranny, those in power don't care what the people think. They ignore our concerns. Our voice means nothing and changes little. Iran is a perfect example of this. Those people have faced death, and still they raise their voices. But they have no power and the voices ring out in a futile cry for freedom.

But here in this grand wonderful experiment called Democracy, our voices do count. Our votes do count. We vote the power out, if we wish.

And this is what bothers me the most about this healthcare debate. If it seems clear that the majority of people do not want this government run healthcare option, and Congress and the President ignore the people because they can, then what does that say about our democracy? Sure we can vote them out next time, but there is no going back on this. Once the government gets it's greedy claws into the fabric of our life, there is no tearing it away.

Sunday, August 02, 2009

I am gone tomorrow to take my dog to Minneapolis to the university veterinary clinic. Sorry for the light postings this weekend, I've been preoccupied. Here are some thoughts and links:

The thought occurs to me that Obama's cynical accusation that a pediatrician would take out a child's healthy tonsils for money stems from the mindset of a Chicago politician. It would be something he would do.

I was checking the weather online when a banner ad happened to catch my notice. "Obama Asks Moms to Return to School" Huh. It was an otherwise straightforward ad for an online degree. Now, I know that the administration has nothing to do with the ad, however it strikes me that the cult of personality surrounding Obama is beyond absurd. Farcical, even. Can you imagine such an ad with Bush or even Clinton? It would have been seen as patronizing. Patronizing. Good word. It fits Obama.

Imagine a Cash for Clunkers program 40 years ago.... Nope, neither can I. When did we go wrong that the gov't buys people's trade-ins? I just bought a new car, and I - like most everyone else who DOESN'T have a clunker - am getting a raw deal. Not that I want a gov't handout, but this is just a wealth transfer. Like most gov't programs, its being badly run by bureaucrats and keeps running out of money. They can't even handle trade-ins, imagine how gov't bureaucrats running health care and reimbursement. (shudder)

War is not complicated. You have to separate the guerrilla forces from the population and kill them until they no longer want to continue. Al Qaeda, dominated by Arabs, is finished inside Afghanistan. The Taliban are Afghans, to be dealt with by Afghans. As he did in Iraq, Gen. Petraeus wants to recruit local forces to protect their own villages. That will expand the Afghan forces to 300,000 and stabilize the situation. On patrols, Afghan soldiers spot the enemy 10 times more frequently than do coalition solders. Afghan soldiers are brave, hardy, ill-disciplined, individualistic, temperamental and trustworthy.

A year from now, coalition forces should be able to gradually withdraw, replaced by robust support and adviser units embedded in Afghan security forces. We shouldn’t make this a NATO war, allowing the Afghans to stand back. We’re outsiders, no matter how many schools we build or cups of tea we drink.

I am all for Afghans running their own country, as long as they don't tolerate terrorists who use the country as a base of operations. If they need help with that, they should have it.

A lot of really ignorant things are being said about the F-22 recently. One of my favorite false statements is that its "not much use against an insurgency", to analogize: its like saying that during WWII that an Essex class aircraft carrier is not much use against German panzers. (rolls eyes) I guess we shouldn't have bothered building them.

My conservative friends — and even a few media liberals — are agreed: The bloom is off the Obama rose. He’s not the Obamessiah, just another 50-percent president. He tried to do too much too fast, and his numbers are sinking. The Europeanization of health care is dead. Fuhgeddabouddit.

I wouldn’t be so sure. President Obama has no choice but to move fast, in part because the image he presented during the campaign — a post-partisan, post-racial, post-anything-unpleasant-and-controversial, pragmatic centrist — was a total crock. He has a vast transformative domestic agenda and — because most of its elements are not terribly popular — he has to accomplish it at speed, or he won’t get it done at all.

Quite right. Obama was not what he claimed to be, and frankly I am disappointed in many people who bought into the idea. It didn't take much thought or examination to realize this before the election. Well... its not like the Republicans had a decent alternative candidate. Note to Republicans: The quality of your candidate really does matter.

On the price tag: It’s often argued that, as a proportion of GDP, America spends more on health care than countries with government medical systems. But, as a point of fact, “America” doesn’t spend anything on health care: Hundreds of millions of people make hundreds of millions of individual decisions about what they’re going to spend on health care. Whereas up north a handful of bureaucrats determine what Canada will spend on health care — and that’s that: Health care is a government budget item.

Damn, that is an important distinction! The money quote:

How did the health-care debate decay to the point where we think it entirely natural for the central government to fix a collective figure for what 300 million freeborn citizens ought to be spending on something as basic to individual liberty as their own bodies?

This is why I love Steyn. He cuts to the heart of the matter. Republicans fall into this trap time and time again. They allow their opponents to set the framework of the debate and then nitpick the details. The Government has no business in healthcare. They should get out and stay out and let free people make their own decisions like adults.

Welcome to Rightwingsparkle! The Pro-life movement brought me back into politics. Now I am a conservative activist. Mother Teresa once said: "Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person." Person to person. Me to you. Together we can change the world.